He opened up about his meeting with President Gianni Infantino.
Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Annual Awards 2023 will open at 8 p.m. on the 29th at the Peace Hall of Kyung Hee University in Seoul. This year’s award ceremony will be held in Korea for the first time in history, and Korean national team players have been nominated for awards, drawing attention.
And Chung Mong-gyu, president of the Korea Football Association, also attended and shone. With the Korea Football Association (KFA) nominated for the Association of the Year award, as well as the first-ever ceremony in Korea, Chairman Chung Mong-gyu also made an appearance at the ceremony.
Chairman Chung Mong-gyu then stood in front of reporters before the event proceeded. When asked about his thoughts on the award ceremony to be held in Korea, Chung said, “I think FIFA President Gianni Infantino is enjoying it in Korea. He is very busy. I am very happy that he seems to be enjoying Korean culture.”
Immediately, a question about Infantino came in. Infantino visited Korea on the 28th to attend the AFC Annual Awards and immediately visited the soccer hall to have a brief interview with Chairman Chung Mong-gyu.
Asked what kind of conversation he had with Infantino, Chairman Chung Mong-gyu said, “I told you about the Cheonan Football Center. Then, I was deeply moved by the Cheonan Football Center. FIFA was also thinking that the Cheonan Football Center would be a good model worldwide. He said that he would introduce it to other countries as a model when it is completed.”
Then, he shared his thoughts on Infantino’s praise. “The KFA is an exemplary organization in the world, beyond East Asia and Asia among FIFA member countries. The KFA is well-run, and it is the KFA’s autonomy that determines the coach of the national team or other support. The KFA’s autonomy is very important and results are good accordingly. The KFA has no problem,” Infantino said during his visit to the KFA.
Chairman Chung Mong-gyu replied, “I think you always think so. You also understand what is happening in Korea. You monitor what is coming from all media. I think that’s why you said that.”
He also expressed his thoughts on the parliamentary comprehensive audit. After replacing Jurgen Klinsmann in February, the Korea Football Association set up a committee to search for a new coach. However, the committee failed to produce any notable outcome, and Chung suddenly announced his resignation.
Since then, the Korea Football Association has entrusted technical director Lee Im-saeng with full authority over the appointment of the coach. And director Lee Im-saeng suddenly appointed head coach Hong Myung-bo in July. Immediately after this, revelations from insiders of the Power Enhancement Committee, including Park Joo-ho, continued, and the Korea Football Association was criticized for the collapse of the existing process for the appointment of the coach. 스포츠토토
The situation escalated completely, and key KFA executives, including Coach Hong Myung-bo and Chairman Chung Mong-kyu, were selected as witnesses for pending questions at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism held at the National Assembly last month, and had to be asked sharp questions. Soon after, Chairman Chung Mong-gyu attended the pending questions at the comprehensive audit and was subject to criticism once again. Recognizing the incident, FIFA sent a warning to the KFA.
Chairman Chung Mong-gyu explained about this situation, “I explained it well to Infantino in many ways. FIFA also reported a lot about the appointment of a coach, but he said he didn’t understand it well. So I explained it as it was, and in the end, he said that it was all the responsibility of the president of the Korea Football Association.”